At the start of Edward Albee's "Marriage Play," Gillian is sitting in her living room, reading a thick journal.

Her husband, Jack, comes home from work, tosses his keys onto an end table and says, "I'm leaving you."

She initially takes this news in a light-hearted, teasing way, which annoys him enough that he goes out and comes in again. And, when he still doesn't get the response he wants, he makes a third entrance.

They then spend the next 75 minutes reflecting on their 30 years together, including their sex life, which she has chronicled in that journal she's reading at the start. It also explores their ideas of the nature of marriage itself. The conversation is sometimes funny and sometimes lacerating.

Director Tim Hedgepeth's staging at Classic Theatre allows Catherine Babbitt and Andrew Thornton, two of the city's strongest actors, to show off their considerable chops. They take full advantage, creating fully developed characters.

Every exchange is shaded with decades of knowledge about each other, as well as the affection and long-simmering resentments than spring from that. The darker side of things builds to a nasty fight (sharply choreographed by Tony Ciaravino) that leaves both breathless and rubbing a variety of wounds.

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In another sequence, they take great pleasure in recalling a trip to Venice, right up until the moment that she figures out that the moment that she had been thinking of as a high point between them – a tryst in a hotel – had actually been with someone else. That, too, leaves a mark.

It's a marvelous production.

"Marriage Play" can be seen at 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 23 at Classic Theatre, 1924 Fredericksburg Road. Tickets range from $10 to $25 at classictheatresanantonio.org or by calling 210-589-8450.